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Paul Doiron cranks up a suspenseful, fast-paced plot

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS - | Jul 4, 2020

This cover image released by Minotaur shows "One Last Lie," by Paul Doiron. (Minotaur via AP)

Fifteen years ago, a young Maine game warden went undercover to investigate a poaching ring in Maine’s north woods and was never heard from again; so his mentor, retired warden Charlie Stevens, is stunned when he stumbles onto the missing man’s badge being offered for sale at a flea market.

The discovery, Charlie realizes, means everything he had believed about his young friend’s disappearance and presumed death was wrong. Determined to solve the mystery, he rushes home, packs a bag, tells his wife not to ask any questions, and urges her not to let anyone -especially his friend Mike Bowditch – try to find him. But Charlie is like a father to Mike, so the latter, a game warden himself, sets off to track Charlie down.

So begins “One Last Lie,” the eleventh novel in Paul Doiron’s fine series of Mike Bowditch crime novels.

Mike and Charlie’s dual investigations lead them on a dangerous journey through forests and ramshackle riverside towns along the Maine-Canadian border. Gradually, Mike discovers that Charlie, as well as several men in positions of power in the warden service, have been harboring secrets about what happened 15 years ago – and at least one of them is willing to kill to prevent the truth from surfacing.

This novel is something of a departure for Doiron. The lyrical descriptions of the natural world that have distinguished his previous novels are less in evidence this time, and the suspenseful, fast-paced plot has more twists and turns than usual in a Mike Bowditch novel.

Meanwhile, Charlie’s daughter, Stacey, Mike’s first true love, resurfaces, complicating Mike’s relationship with fellow warden Dani Tate. The last chapter warns that Mike’s always tumultuous love life may be headed for more trouble in the next installment of the Mike Bowditch saga.

•••

“Death in Her Hands,” by Ottessa Moshfegh

(Penguin Press)

Dark doesn’t even begin to describe Ottessa Moshfegh’s latest novel, “Death in Her Hands.” Try horrifying, macabre, fashionably self-referential and exceptionally well-written – a book, as the publisher’s blurb says, that asks us to consider how the stories we tell ourselves both reflect the truth and keep us blind to it. Plus, it’s got a great dog.

The novel begins with the narrator, Vesta Gul, finding a note while she is out walking her dog in the woods. It says, “Her name was Magda. Nobody will ever know who killed her. It wasn’t me. Here is her dead body.” But there is no body. Even so, she will spend the rest of the book trying to solve the mystery of its disappearance.

If you’re a fan of gothic fiction, “Death in Her Hands” might just be your cup of tea. If not, come for the dread – and stay for the dog.

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